DHCF Performance Oversight Hearing

Executive Director Judith Sandalow testified at the Performance Oversight Hearing of the Department of Health Care Finance, both praising its progress and calling on the Department to do more to solve the problems facing DC children who rely on Medicaid. 

A properly functioning Medicaid system is vital for ensuring the health of DC's children because 25 percent of DC residents (the highest rate in the country) and 61 percent of the city's children are enrolled in Medicaid.  Nearly all of the 1,200 children that CLC serves annually is a Medicaid recipient.

While CLC was encouraged by the progress that the Department has made in the past two years, Sandalow focused her testimony on three children's priorities the Department should undertake:

• Fixing the fragmented mental health care system that makes it difficult to navigate for families and providers;
• Developing a stronger system of oversight and accountability to managed care organizations to ensure that they provide adequate preventive medical and mental health services; and
• Moving forward with the delayed Administrative Service Organization, which will create a single billing system and create an environment that attracts more providers.

Sandalow also highlighted the need, particularly in tough budget times, for the Department to work with agencies, especially the Child and Family Services Agency, to ensure federal dollars are being maximized.

Read the full testimony here.